Arrests in string of Ventura County burglaries announced; public's help sought

Showing the seven suspects, two still wanted, from live press conference with the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.
VENTURA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE

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Ventura County Undersheriff Gary Pentis, right, talks to the media Thursday at the sheriff's station in Thousand Oaks. Arrests followed an investigation into a criminal street gang committing multiple residential burglaries in Ventura County and throughout Southern California. Five arrests have been made in connection with this investigation. Kathryn Munyon, a sheriff's crime analyst, stands in the background.(Photo: JUAN CARLO/THE STAR)Buy Photo

Ventura County residents were alerted Thursday to be on the lookout for any unusual activity in their neighborhoods after a series of residential burglaries, many of them in Moorpark and Thousand Oaks.

"These thugs come up here and make their living on stealing from others," Undersheriff Gary Pentis said during a Thursday morning news conference in Thousand Oaks.

This is a persistent and hard-to-stop crime trend across Southern California that will take a lot of law enforcement resources as well as the cooperation of neighbors, Pentis told a roomful of reporters.

So far, seven suspects, all from Los Angeles, were named in connection with the break-ins with five arrested as of Thursday and two more who are still at large.

Pentis said some of the break-ins happened in April when a series of residential burglaries was reported in Thousand Oaks and Moorpark.

The homes were broken into from a back window or door, authorities said. Some of the burgled homes are next to open areas such as a horse path or bike trail, making the prowlers' presence less noticeable to neighbors, Pentis said.

Quite a few of the break-ins have occurred in the middle of the night with burglars using crowbars or other items to enter homes.

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From left, Officer Jason Valles of the Los Angeles Police Department, Kathryn Munyon, a crime analyst with the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, and Undersheriff Gary Pentis speak at a news conference Thursday at the sheriff's station in Thousand Oaks.
JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

Undersheriff Gary Pentis talks with members of the media at a press conference Thursday after authorities announced the arrests of five people suspected in a string of residential and commercial burglaries in Ventura County.
JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

Undersheriff Gary Pentis, of the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, speaks during a Thursday news conference at the Thousand Oaks sheriff’s station joined by, from left, Jason Valles, a Los Angeles Police Department officer; Kathryn Munyon, a sheriff’s crime analyst; Chuck Calderaro, a lieutenant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department; and Myron Johnson, a captain with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

Ventura County Undersheriff Gary Pentis speaks to members of the media at a press conference Thursday at the sheriff's station in Thousand Oaks. Law enforcement officials announced the arrests of five people suspected in a string of residential and commercial burglaries in Ventura County. The five are also alleged to be members of Los Angeles street gangs.
JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

Ventura County Undersheriff Gary Pentis, right, talks to the media Thursday at the sheriff's station in Thousand Oaks. Arrests followed an investigation into a criminal street gang committing multiple residential burglaries in Ventura County and throughout Southern California. Five arrests have been made in connection with this investigation. Kathryn Munyon, a sheriff's crime analyst, stands in the background.
JUAN CARLO/THE STAR

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"Their glass doors have been broken, interrupting business for the next day" just so thieves can grab a few hundred dollars from the cash register.

Many of the break-ins take five minutes or less, he said.

Those identified with the break-ins work in crews, Pentis said, and are alleged to belong to criminal street gangs from Los Angeles.

Many of the burglaries are well planned, with burglars observing a neighborhood for some time before breaking into a home.

"That means they're in the area and can be seen by residents" before the break-in, he said. In at least one case, burglars either covered security lights so they could not be seen or turned the lights in another direction.

Burglars have also rented cars that look as if they belong in the affluent areas in which the break-ins are occurring, Pentis said, again so as not call attention to themselves. And they're using Zillow, an internet-based real-estate service, to find high-end homes to break into.

"They're looking for opportunities," he said.

Dozens of law enforcement officers were present at Thursday's news conference. They included Michael Maher, a sergeant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department major crimes unit.

Maher said the kind of break-ins being seen in Ventura County are part of a long-term crime trend across Southern California, one that's existed for at least seven years. He said many of the burglars have come from gangs that were once rivals of each other, competing for turf in which to sell drugs or commit other crimes.

"These former rival gangs have joined together in order to commit these burglaries," Maher said.

The reason is simple: Where they could once make a fair amount of cash from dealing drugs on a street corner all day, they can now make off with jewelry or other property worth $100,000 or more within minutes of breaking into an upscale home in the Los Angeles or Ventura County area, he said.

"It's not unusual to see a safe in some of these homes with jewelry worth six figures being stolen in the span or three or four minutes," Maher said.

Romeo Jackson is one of two suspects being sought in connection to a string of residential burglaries in Ventura County. Five others have already been arrested.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/VENTURA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE

Jermale Henry is one of five suspects in custody in connection with a string of residential burglaries in Ventura County. Two more suspects are being sought.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/VENTURA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE

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Pentis said it can take a lot of resources on the part of law enforcement agencies to catch these burglars in the act.

"To solve this, it's going to take neighbors who are aware or what's going on and call when they see or hear something suspicious," he said, "because this trend isn't going to go away."

While many of the burglars have come from the Los Angeles area, others have come from as far away as Northern California, Pentis said as he recalled a recent vehicle pursuit involving Ventura County law enforcement officers and suspected burglars.

The chase ended in Santa Barbara, thanks in good part to the help of the California Highway Patrol, he said, noting that the suspects arrested in that case were from the Bay Area.

"It's not just Thousand Oaks; this is a Southern California problem," Pentis said, noting that burglars have also struck homes and commercial establishments in Anaheim and Yorba Linda.

Pentis called the burglars dangerous people, as he recalled thieves hitting an elderly couple who were at their Camarillo home when it was broken into.

"We haven’t had anybody killed in our community," he said. "But there have been shootings around Southern California" on the part of burglars "when they get scared and unknowingly come across a resident."

"They’re all criminal street gangs," he said, noting that the female members of the burglary crews "are just as big of thugs as the guys."

Authorities have arrested at least five people in connection with the burglaries, all of them from Los Angeles. They are Kaylyn Breedlove, 22; Marcus Gilmore, 20; Jermale Henry, 20; Jamel Freeman, 19; and Ricky Perkins, 19. All are charged with multiple counts of felony residential burglary "and are believed to have committed more than 20 burglaries in the Southern California area," the Ventura County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

Authorities also named two other suspects, Romeo Jackson and Karnell Lawson, both 19 and from Los Angeles, who have warrants out for their arrests. As with the other five, they are charged with multiple counts of felony residential burglary.